The Costs of Inaction work builds on the UNDP-UNEP
Partnership Initiative for the Integration of the Sound
Management of Chemicals into Development Planning
Processes, contributes to the WHO-UNEP Health and
Environment Strategic Alliance, and provides support
for UNEP Guidance on the Development of Legal and
Institutional Infrastructures for Sound Management of
Chemicals and Measures for Recovering Costs of National
Administration (LIRA-Guidance).
This document provides a practical and useful assessment
of the current state of knowledge of the economic costs of
inaction on the sound management of chemicals. It makes
available early research findings and the evidence needed
to support the argument for enhanced political action.

This report presents sources of mercury emissions to air and water. It presents estimates of anthropogenic emissions to air from various sources based on data from 2010 and estimates for releases to aquatic environment. The report also presents the latest information on atmospheric and aquatic chemistry , fate and transport. It is an overall summary report for the policy makers based on a technical background report.

This report speaks directly to governments involved in development of the global treaty on mercury. It presents updates from the UNEP Global Mercury Assessment 2013 in short and punchy facts and figures backed by compelling graphics that provide governments and civil society with the rationale and the imperative to act on this notorious pollutant.
The report underlines the fact that mercury remains a major global, regional and national challenge in terms of threats to human health and the environment, especially but not
uniquely to the health of pregnant woman and babies world-wide through the eating of contaminated fish for example or marine mammals in places like the Arctic.

In 1995, in support of UNEPs unique mandate within the UN system to keep under review the world environmental situation, (GA resolution 2997 of December 1972), the UNEP Governing Council requested a new, comprehensive report on the state of the world environment (Decision 18/27 C). The tool that UNEP employs to do this is the Global Environment Outlook or GEO. GEO is a process of conducting a global integrated environmental assessment that delivers the best available scientific findings to policy makers so that they can make informed decisions. In this way, the assessment bridges the science and policy realms.
GEO is also a product. Using integrated environmental assessment (IEA) methodology, UNEP has produced a series of GEO reports which have analyzed environmental state and trends at the global and regional scales, described plausible outlooks for various time frames and formulated policy options. Each GEO report builds on the assessment findings of its predecessor and also draws from lessons learned on process.
The 25th session of the UNEP Governing Council, through Decision 25/2: III, requested the Executive Director to undertake a comprehensive integrated global assessment, the fifth report in the Global Environment Outlook series, GEO-5

2011 proved a landmark year in which many of the transformational reforms, launched in 2008,
really began to bear fruit in terms of a transition to a results-based, more effective and more
responsive UNEP.

The UNEP Year Book 2012 shows that we have been experiencing an exceptional level of ecological extremes. However, scientists and policy makers have been making headway on addressing some of the most pressing environmental issues. The 2012 Year Book presents the most important events and developments from the year, gives a picture of the status of key environmental indicators, and also highlights two emerging issues in detail: the benefits of soil carbon and the decommissioning of nuclear power plants. The Year Book is intended to strengthen the science-policy interface by informing interested parties about the most relevant environmental issues.